Asking for new States for the Southeast is just political posturing — Chekwas Okorie

The call for the creation of Anioma, Orlu, and Etiti states has been deemed legal by Chekwas Okorie, the current chairman of the board of trustees of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), and the organization’s founder.

However, he dismissed the call as simple political posturing given the blatant and intentional barriers found in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended).

In addition, Okorie said that the majority of the killings in the South-East are self-inflicted and regrettable, and that the governors of this geopolitical zone are forced to use limited resources against their better judgment in order to combat the scourge of kidnapping and murder.

He appealed to the Tinubu administration to synergize more with the South-East governors to fight the criminals that perpetrate these evil acts.

He said: “I strongly believe that President Tinubu would score the bull’s eye if he summoned the political will to exercise his constitutionally guaranteed special presidential dispensation to direct the Minister of Justice to enter a nolle prosequi in court in the matter of Nnamdi Kanu and other Igbo prisoners of conscience whose only offence is that they were agitating for the liberty and self-determination of their people.

“The insecurity and associated disturbances in the Southeast will be largely resolved when Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is released unconditionally.”

Reacting to the Igbo-Must-Go campaign, Okorie expressed gladness that many well-meaning Nigerians at all the strata of the society in unison condemned what he called the highly subversive, inciting and incendiary provocative call by unpatriotic elements for the Igbo to exit from Lagos.

He said: “However, I am worried that the response of both the federal and Lagos State governments to this unprovoked threat is lackadaisical and suggestive of certain levels of complicity and tolerance.

“I see no reason why President Tinubu has not demanded the resignation of his aide, Mr. Onanuga. I am not impressed by the feeble condemnation of the offensive tweets of the sponsors of Lagospedia. The Lagos State government ought to have apprehended and prosecuted the culprits to serve as a deterrent.”